Xiaomi teams up with China Unicom to push offline phone sales

Chinese smartphone vendor Xiaomi Corp has teamed up with the country's second-largest telecom carrier, China United Network Communications Group Co, to expand its offline retailing channels.

The move came as the country's online smartphone sales has hit a ceiling and as Xiaomi grapples with declining shipments and mounting competition from rivals such as Oppo Electronics Corp.

Xiaomi launched a custom-made smartphone Redmi 3X on Wednesday. Equipped with a large battery and a 13-megapixel rear-camera, the new phone will go on sale for 899 yuan ($136) through China Unicom's 30,000 offline stores and more than 230,000 bricks-and-mortar retailing partners.